00:00Former Police Commissioner Gary Griffith says threats against government officials should never be made public.
00:07He insists such sensitive intelligence must be tightly guarded and dealt with discreetly.
00:13So you get these death threats on a regular basis.
00:15I had 43 death threats as Commissioner of Police Special Grant stated it was the most by any person in ever held public office, even my family.
00:23And what I did is I kept it to myself.
00:25You don't go public with it.
00:27And all that this will do is cause undue panic, will cause sensationalism, it can affect the image of the country.
00:34So on many occasions, when it is that you have death threats, as Commissioner of Police, again, I said the Prime Minister, the previous Prime Minister, they were death threats on him, they were death threats on his family.
00:44And I kept it to myself.
00:45And what you do is that you put the proper systems in place to minimize the possibility of it happening.
00:50Griffith also shared his view on the Police Commissioner's response to these situations.
00:56Regarding the Independence Day parade, he says, if law enforcement makes a decision based on intelligence information of clear and present danger, the government has no choice but to cancel.
01:07However, he believes the top cop is hitting the panic button too fast.
01:11He is pressing that panic button, and he may have reason to do so, but there is a situation where the prisoners, and there was a perception that prisoners were having access to information being sent outside.
01:24You should virtually shut down the prison, and you're sending those prisoners to another part, another installation in the Coast Guard.
01:31You have a problem where you feel like you're unable to deal with the crime problem.
01:34You went to the Prime Minister and you asked to have a state of emergency.
01:37We have a situation of some threat based on intelligence for Independence Parade, recommendation made to the government to shut down the Independence Parade.
01:45Griffith also weighs in on the practicality of shutting down the parade, and how such a move may be perceived.
01:52Again, if it is that the government, based on a recommendation by the law enforcement agencies to shut down the Independence Parade,
01:59but the law enforcement agencies are telling them, but you can go ahead with a Monday night forum,
02:03we can go ahead with the football game at Trinidad and Tobago versus Curaçao on the 5th of September,
02:07that will have five times more persons than the Queen's Park Savannah for the Independence Parade.
02:11It may cause persons to believe that you're just selectively having choices, you're making choices as to what to shut down and what not to shut down,
02:20and that may not be the case.
02:21Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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